ComicMix Radio: Darwin Cooke And Parker
Darwin Cooke’s new project from IDW, Parker, has a long history in crime fiction and even on the big screen. Darwin fills us in on how he’s bringing all this to the comics, plus:
- J.G. Jones leaves Final Crisis
- Marvel’s toy line spawns a comic
- Got a minute to see a classic horror flick?
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Transcript
Broadcast, 277. ComicMix.com Darwyn Cooke does it without a cape or a mask. ComicMix.com Hi, it's Mike Raub and everybody's been talking about that new series coming from Darwin called Parker, but what's it really about?
And did you know there was already a Parker movie? Give you the details on that and a lot more all coming up on October 23rd. 2008 ComicMix News With all the scheduling switch-a-roo that's gone on the past couple of months, we kind of knew this to be true, but DC made it official this week when they said that J.G. Jones would not be doing the art for the last issue of Final Crisis.
Issue number seven of the saga will now be drawn by Doug Mankie with inks by Kristen Almery. Jones and Mankie will each provide covers. There's no real reason explained as to why Jones has moved on other than the usual scheduling conflict. With everybody talking spooks and monsters this time of the year, you may find yourself a little disappointed that there's been some films out there, even some classics that maybe you haven't seen.
Well, Fear.net has put together a feature called the 66.6 Second Film Festival, which cuts down classic horror films to 66.6 seconds. If you go to the site, you get a rundown, for example, of The Exorcism of Emily Rhodes and a lot of other movies, including Hostel, Candyman, and even some of the old classics as well. Take five minutes and you'll be an expert at fearnet.com. Marvel has announced that Superhero Squad Hero Up will be a one-shot released in January, and it's based on the successful Hasbro action figure line featuring villains and heroes from the Marvel line.
Paul Tobin, who does the Marvel Adventures books, is going to be doing the writing on this, and it will show the Marvel universe in a way that's not been seen before in comics, as all the heroes and villains live in a place called Superhero City. Again, the issue will ship with two covers, one featuring the heroes, the other featuring the villains, and Superhero Squad Hero Up will be in stores in January.
As we read Chapter 3 of the Watchmen Motion Comics is debuted on iTunes and Amazon.com, all compliments of Warner Premier and Warner Brothers. Again, the first two are already up there as well, including some other DC projects. And again, check it out and do a search on iTunes and Amazon On Demand. I knew this had to happen. Dark Horse and Universal Pictures are bringing Umbrella Academy to the big screen.
That's the Eisner Award-winning series by Gerard Way, who is best known as the frontman for My Chemical Romance. Right now, the group is looking for a director and a screenwriter, and there's been some strong rumors on the internet that Universal is pushing Diablo Kobe as a possible writer. Hi, this is Jane Weaver, and we are listening to ComicMix. ComicMix Radio!
ComicMix Radio! With an impressive resume that includes Justice League New Frontier and the Eisner-winning Spirit series from DC, Darwyn Cooke has made a lot of noise in the comic book world over the past couple of years. The latest sound came from his announcement that he has a new project he's taking to IDW, one of the more prominent independent publishers, and that project is called Parker.
It's new in some ways and not new in other ways, and Parker's a lot different from everything else that Darwin has done. Who is Parker? Parker is a master thief, certainly not in that happy-go-lucky cat burglar sense. He's a ruthless, you know, American criminal, as I'd like to put it. He's amoral. In other words, he doesn't make any decisions based on an emotional response.
If you're in his way, he'll kill you. But it's only because you're in the way. It's nothing personal. And he would never hurt you out of anger because he's got such control over those kinds of emotions. And it makes him a really fascinating character. He could come off flat, except for the magic of the way Stark writes him. OK, so there may not be any masks or capes involved, per se, in the new series, but Darwin explains just why he's so enthusiastic about the new project.
Parker is a character created by Richard Stark, an author. It's a pseudonym, actually, for an author named Donald Wesley, a very famous crime novelist, probably my favorite living author. And I've always been a big fan of these books, and it's always been a dream of mine to illustrate one of them as a comic. So for about five years now, I've been pursuing it. You might not realize it yet, but Parker's had a long history in movies, and Darwin plans on using that heavily in the new series.
And Darwin also talks about where he goes in his career from here. We'll cover that and more with Darwin on the weekend again right here. It's report card time. Numbers are in for the comics and the graphic novels you spent your money on in the comic stores all during the month of September. And some real interesting things here, starting off with the fact that for the first time in recent memory,
Marvel has well over 50% of the share of every dollar you spend in a comic store. Hasn't happened that way in a long time, but let's see where everything evens out. First, the list of the top 20 graphic novels in the stores, starting at number 20 with Angel after the fall. Second, hardcover in that series from IDW. At number 19, Batman the Black Love hardcover.
At number 18, the Berserk trade paperback from Dark Horse. Number 17, Batman again, the Killing Joke special edition hardcover. That has been a bestseller for about five months now. Watchmen, this is the international trade paperback edition, is at number 16. At number 15, Love and Rockets New Stories number one from Fanta Graphics.
Number 14, Walking Dead trade paperback, the first volume of that series. At number 13, X-Men Uncanny, the trade paperback divided. We stand collecting the beginning of that story arc. At number 12, Abe Sapien the trade paperback, the first in that series from Dark Horse and the Hellboy series. At number 11, Justice League of America, Tornado's Path, the trade paperback.
And then starting the top 10 with Buffy the Vampire Slayer omnibus trade paperback, the fifth volume of that run from Dark Horse. At number 9, the Immortal Iron Fist trade paperback, the second one of the series from Marvel. At number 8, First of the Manga, the Bleach trade paperback from Viz. At number 7, Wolverine Blood Death the trade paperback from Marvel. At number 6, Kingdom Come, the latest edition, the one that was redone a few months back.
That's from DC and at number 6 in the top 10 graphic novels in comic stores. At number 5, Captain America, the second volume in the death of Captain America in a trade paperback form. Naruto, always a mainstay. This is volume number 31 from Viz at number 4. Number 3, Star Wars Clone Wars trade paperback, the very first one in that run from Dark Horse.
And the second most popular graphic novel in stores, 100 Bullets, the 12th trade paperback in that series from DC, Vertigo. And the best selling graphic novel in comic book stores in September. No big surprise, the regular Watchmen trade paperback from DC. Alright, your top 20 comics in stores last month begin with Marvel. At number 20, it's X-Force number 7.
At number 19, Ultimate Origins number 4. At number 18, X-Men Legacy number 216. At number 17, first issue of Deadpool. At number 16, DC comes in with Detective number 848. That's part of the Batman R.I.P storyline.
At number 15, All-Star Superman number 12. Number 14, Amazing Spider-Man number 571. And then number 13, Amazing Spider-Man number 572. Both part of the New Way to Die series. Also at number 12, Captain America number 42 from Marvel.
At number 11, Buffy the Vampire Slayer number 18 from Dark Horse. Starting in the top 10 best selling comics last month in comic stores, Amazing Spider-Man number 570 is at number 10. At number 9, Dark Tower Treachery number 1 from Marvel. At number 8, Stand Captain Trips number 1.
Again, more Stephen King from Marvel. At number 7, Uncanny X-Men number 502. Part of the Manifest Destiny series. At number 6, Ultimate 3 number 5. At number 5, Mighty Avengers number 18.
That was the Secret Invasion tie-in. At number 4, All-Star Batman and Robin number 10. Number 3, New Avengers number 45. Again, a Secret Invasion tie-in. And number 2, Hulk number 6 from Marvel.
And the number 1 best selling comic in stores last month. Secret Invasion number 6 from Marvel. ComicMix Radio! ComicMix timeline. October 23rd.
1982. Early part of the 80s were not a really great time in the history of DC Comics, but there were a few bright spots. This week we got Green Lantern number 160, spun the rack around to fight House of Mystery number 312.
Legion of Super Heroes was doing pretty good at number 295. Gene Colan looked fantastic in a series called Night Force. This week we got issue number 6. Joe Kuber was in Sgt. Rock at number 375. And Brian Ballin turned into an issue of Camelot 3000.
It'll be the last we saw for a while and it was issue number 2. Over at Marvel there was Daredevil number 190 still hanging on to the Electra story. King Conan was at number 14 and Marvel made all the newspapers this week by releasing The Life of Pope John Paul II as a comic book. Along with Master of Kung Fu number 120,
Micronauts number 40, Tyne and Vision and Scarlet, which the miniseries at issue number 3. 1982. In the news, feeling positive about his recent Mideast trips, President Reagan expressed hope that peace talks could resume there again soon.
Despite a major bank drastically cutting its interest rate, the stock market ended the day with a record loss. And in a bizarre, unexplained incident, actress Jennifer O'Neill was shot and reported to be in fair condition at a New York hospital. In the movies we still could see E.T., Bronson was in Death Wish,
Dolly was in The Best Little Whore House in Texas, there was Homework, Officer in a Gentlemen, Up in Smoke, Dawn of the Dead and one of my favorites. I'm not an actor, I'm a movie star! Peter O'Toole leading an incredible cast in my favorite year.
TV Tonight, episodes of Different Strokes, TJ Hooker, Gimme a Break, Fantasy Island and of course that also meant… The love of, she will be making and more the run The love of, welcome aboard its lawn Another Saturday night, another episode of Love Book.
1982. On the radio, a band that was riding high literally the last few years with top albums and an excessive lifestyle. The group Fleetwood Mac ended up with a few members in rehab after the release of this album called Garage.
Up front though was Stevie Nicks and Gypsy. To a man to the velvet, But underground, where to go? That I love, to a room with some lace and paper flowers Where to the gypsy,
That I was, to the gypsy, That I was…
